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Greg Olson No. 7

June 22nd, 2011

Joe so hungers for this asinine lockout to be over that even Rachel Watson has taken a back seat in Joe’s lust. Joe’s trying his best not to get excited — remember when Judge Nelson’s decision was supposed to be bulletproof? — as anything can happen.

As a result, the Soviets of sports are actually having to produce some probing, intelligent work for a change rather than slurping Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, the Cowboys, the Patriots, Rex Ryan and the grossly overrated NFC East.

The four-letter has come out with a “rising assistants” list and has Bucs offensive coordinator Greg Olson at No. 7.

Secret weapon: In two years, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have developed quarterback Josh Freeman into one of the better starters in the league. The man largely responsible is offensive coordinator Greg Olson, who navigated a disastrous 2009 preseason — coach Raheem Morris promoted him in the middle of training camp after firing Jeff Jagodzinski — and NFL teams often seek out coaches with success developing young quarterbacks.

“I think Olson deserves a ton of credit for developing Freeman so quickly,” said NFC South blogger Pat Yasinskas. “Freeman threw for 25 touchdowns and six interceptions in his first full season as a starter and carried an incredibly young team to a 10-6 record. I also think people need to look at what Olson did last year with rookie running back LeGarrette Blount and rookie receiver Mike Williams. He helped make them into instant stars.”

While Joe isn’t about to knock Olson for the solid job he has done, let’s be honest, he’s getting the kudos not so much for Mike Williams or LeGarrette Blount but for Josh Freeman.

And aside from Freeman exploding in his second year in the NFL and first full season as a starter, what else was different with Freeman in his second year from his first? He had a quarterback coach.

Joe remembers interviewing Peter King at the Super Bowl Media Day at Miami a year ago and King raved about Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik’s hire of Alex Van Pelt as the Bucs quarterback coach.

Joe honestly doesn’t know if Van Pelt should get credit for Freeman’s advances or Olson or a combination of the two.

What Joe is getting at is that if the Bucs offense has another solid season and if the Bucs make any kind of a playoff run, it’s a good bet Olson just may be a head coach somewhere else in 2012.

Provided Van Pelt stays with the Bucs, it would temper the loss of Olson leaving.

13 Responses to “Greg Olson No. 7”

I have to agree, Olsen should get a ton credit for developing Freeman. I don’t want to take away from Van Pelt , but Olsen was Freeman’s first QB coach before getting promoted to offensive coordinator. So, it makes sense he would excel in Olsen’s offense, too.

Underrated offensive coordinator Greg Olson was cross-trained in both styles of offense and wisely adapted the offense in Tampa Bay to fit the strengths of the roster, a big reason he was handed the job and the overwhelmed Jeff Jagodzinski was pushed out the door. With a towering, strong-armed fast-pitch passer and speed receivers, Olson tailored the Buccaneers’ passing game to be vertical, and Josh Freeman has thrived. A bevy of big, physical, grind-it-out backs give the offense a smashmouth identity, but when defenses stack the run, Freeman can capitalize and push the ball downfield…”

Can you imagine how bad this team would be if it wasn’t for the Freeman Olson combo?

Joe – why so reluctant to fully commend Olson?

The defensive front 7 has failed to improve thus far despite major draft and internal attention. The D Coordinator should be held responsible. Maybe the NFL through the new CBA will force the Glazers to spend some real money on proven players to upgrade the league’s worst front 7 and Rah Rah’s worst run defense.

The defense has MAJOR holes and nobody knows if the draft has filled any of them. At this point, we don’t know if any of the 6 D Lineman (Miller, Moore, McCoy, Price, Bowers and Clayborn) are bona fide NFLers. You know my feelings about McCoy, Miller and Moore. I am hopeful for Price and Bowers. Clayborn is a major unknown.

Olson can take all the credit he wants for the offense. It was ranked pretty low. Blount saved the day. They’ve got a lot to prove this year. Hopefully, he can get them to be a top 10 offense for a full season

Good point though Dave. The offense was actually ranked behind the defense. Offense was 19th in league and Defense was 17th. Both sides ended up with fairly pedestrian stats. Olsen did a great job calling games in the 4th quarter and that’s when it really matters.

Thomas, you’re such an idiot. You have no clue how this D line will perform. As usual, you’re talking out your @$$ with same vile breath. You contradict yourself constantly. You spin things until they derail and if I had to guess, I’d say you were what Bill Maher leaves in the toilet after Chris Matthews slams him in the backside.